US, Mexico to urge G20 to increase climate aid

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-03 07:48

A thousand ice sculptures in the shape of humans sit on the steps of a music hall in Berlin yesterday. Hosted by the German World Wide Fund for Nature, the sculptures made by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo were created to highlight climate change in the Arctic region, where UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (Insert) spent yesterday studying conditions. Reuters

WASHINGTON: A paper drafted by the United States and Mexico urges Group of 20 nations meeting this month to support giving developing countries more money for cutting carbon emissions to fight climate change.

"We recommend that financial flows increase significantly in the near term beyond existing levels, with an expectation of continued and substantial growth in the future," said the draft report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

The draft, which could be revised before the G20 meeting of large economies in Pittsburgh, also discusses the advantages of having all but the least developed countries contribute aid. The paper does not recommend how much financial aid should be given.

Several teams of countries are putting forward proposals in hopes of building consensus in the runup to the September 24-25 meeting.

"We are working with countries in the G-20 as part of a new voluntary experts group that is examining an array of options for how to facilitate a successful transition to a lower carbon, climate resilient global economy," a US official said. The official declined to comment on how much aid the US would like to see pledged.

Andrew Light, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said it was significant that Mexico, a major polluting developing country, was one of the authors of the report. "Mexico is ... most interested in finding a way forward to bridge the gap" between industrialized countries and poorer ones, he said.

The transition from the use of dirty fuels such as coal and oil for powering utilities and factories to cleaner energy sources like biofuels, solar and wind power, is an expensive proposition. But the environmental woes arising from global warming have spurred international efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases related to coal and oil.

Aid to developing countries could be a major provision of any international climate change deal that could be negotiated at a United Nations summit set for December in Copenhagen.

China and India

In suggesting broad participation in an international "green fund," the draft paper appeared to be including China and India, which, if achieved, could help Democrats in the US Congress win support for domestic climate control legislation and eventually a broader global pact - if one is negotiated.

"By engaging all but the least developed countries, this creates global ownership in the process," the report stated.

But the draft noted the difficulty of estimating how much aid and financing would be needed to help developing countries offset the costs of alternative energy. It did, however, cite separate estimates of hundreds of billions of dollars needed annually by 2030.

In the United States, there has been discussion of using government-backed loans to help finance developing countries' climate-change efforts, as well as giving free pollution permits that could be later sold on an international carbon market.

Besides helping developing countries with the technology to switch to cleaner energy sources, poor nations also want help with other costs associated with climate change, such as rising seas overwhelming dykes and levees.

The draft report stated that "while there will be a role for the private sector, the bulk of international finance is likely to come from the public sector" in this area.

Reuters

(China Daily 09/03/2009 page11)

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